


Retrograde

by HeySystole



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 14:42:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeySystole/pseuds/HeySystole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An abandoned vehicle on the outskirts of town suggests foul play, and the gang investigates. Buffy gets more than she bargains for when she encounters her Retrograde.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retrograde

            The Sunnydale High School librarian, Rupert Giles, sat at the desk in his office with a fresh mug of coffee and the local newspaper. He frowned as his eyes flicked back and forth across the page. Giles was not one to read the town’s rag for trivial current events. Instead, he found it much more helpful to look for items that seemed…out of place: unexplained deaths, mysterious accidents, or the like. He stopped suddenly and he arched his eyebrow when he read the headline “Missing Student Presumed Dead.” Giles had learned that most of the happenings in town were made to sound less supernaturally-related than they were, so this particular headline stood out to him. He looked more closely at the article, and read it again for the major details. An abandoned vehicle was discovered just outside of town, there were signs of a struggle, but police were unable to locate a body. They did, however, work out that the owner of the car was a student at the high school. This was not incredibly unusual for Sunnydale, but Giles felt that it warranted a closer look.

He looked up from the paper and reflected on this piece of information, trying to think who the missing student could be. Suddenly he heard voices coming from outside his office. Considering that only three students in Giles’ tenure had ever come to the library of their own volition, he had a pretty good idea whose voices he was hearing. He stuck his head outside of his office, and sure enough, Buffy, Willow, and Xander were just entering the library.

“Man, is anyone else feeling nauseas after that Chem test?” Xander said.

“It is over, right? This isn’t some panic-induced dream state?” Buffy said, looking to Willow for reassurance.

“Oh come on, guys. It wasn’t that bad.” Willow said smiling.

“Speak for yourself,” Xander said, as he collapsed into a chair. “On the bright side, I’m sure Giles has some terrible news for us. End-of-the-world variety if we’re lucky.”

“As a matter of fact, I did notice something in the paper you three may be able to help with,” Giles said.

“Oh yeah? What’s up?” Buffy asked.

“A missing student. No name. Police found a car just outside of town. I thought you might want to take a look during your patrol tonight.”

“Consider it done,” Buffy said. “We’re headed to the Bronze tonight anyway. Maybe we can ask around and see if anyone knows anything. I’ll check out the scene after that.”

“What about you Giles? You want to Bronze it with us tonight?” Xander asked.

Buffy smirked and looked away.

Giles looked at Xander incredulously.

“If looks could kill,” Xander said.

“Well,” Buffy said standing up, “I think I’ve had enough academia for today. Giles, thanks for the intel. I’ll get back to you if I find anything.”

 

 

 The musical styling of _Dingoes Ate My Baby_ filled the industrial-themed nightclub of The Bronze. Some people were dancing to the music, while others spent their time socializing with their friends. There weren’t a lot of places to hang out in Sunnydale, in fact there was not a lot of Sunnydale in general, so this was where people came to hang out. Buffy and Willow sat at a table across from the dance floor, and waited for Xander to return with drinks.

“They sound pretty good, Will. I detect improvement,” Buffy said, referring to the band.

“Yeah, Oz says they finally worked out a regular practice schedule,” Willow said, “They even have a few of their own songs now.”

Buffy laughed at this.

“And here we have two lattes for the ladies,” Xander said, sidling in next to them and sitting down. “No one in line seemed to know anything about our missing guy.”

“It figures…the missing don’t really cause a stir here anymore,” Willow said.

“We aren’t exactly working with a ton of information, either,” Buffy said.

“Well what about in here?” Xander asked. “There’s gotta be some incognito vamps. Maybe if you trailed one out of here they could lead you to something.”

“It’s not a bad thought,” Buffy considered, “but my slayer senses don’t feel particularly tingly. Usually the vamps just come to me.”

“What if you tried to tap into your powers now?” Willow suggested. “Scan the crowd, you know? See if anything jumps out at you.”

Buffy looked around, surveying the dance floor and the people mingling on the sidelines. She was supposed to be able to pick them out of a crowd, even through the din of the nightclub, but she was much better at the practical part of slaying: identifying those with pointy teeth and giving them a stake to the heart. Buffy decided to give the superpower thing a try and focused on the environment around her. Xander and Willow continued talking near her, but she didn’t hear them. Slowly she tuned out the sound of the band as well. All around her teenagers danced to the music, or latched onto one another, as if performing in some modernized mating ritual. Soon, her thoughts left her too. She was in quiet contemplation searching the room when she was drawn to a couple sitting near the pool table. Like lightning striking her, Buffy realized that this couple was bad news. She noticed bite marks on the guy’s neck, and she had never seen them so conspicuously placed on a vampire before. This one, she could tell, was a fresh kill, and he was recently turned.

“There!” Buffy said, coming out of her reverie. She sat up in her excitement.

Xander and Willow jumped. “Where?” they said.

“Over by the pool table. The guy talking to that girl has bite marks. And it looks like he’s trying to get her to leave.”

“Woah, good call Buffster,” Xander said.

Buffy felt a sense of pride at having spotted something amiss so quickly.

 “Hey isn’t that Mark from Chem?” Willow said, “He wasn’t in class today…”

“I think that explains our missing person problem,” Buffy said. “I’m going to follow them out of here, make sure that girl doesn’t get hurt.”

“You want us to come with?” Willow asked.

“No I think I’m going to take this one solo,” Buffy said.

“Roger that,” Xander said. “We’ll come find you if you don’t come back soon.”

“Deal,” Buffy said. “I’ll make this a quick one. Promise.”

Buffy stood and made her way through the club, keeping a close eye on her target. Sure enough, the couple she was watching started to head for the door. Buffy was stealthy in following them. It wasn’t the first time that she had seen a vampire play this trick: two people leave the club together—usually with the intention of making out, and by the time they get to the alley, it’s all neck biting and blood sucking. Ick.

They were outside now, and Buffy watched the two walking down a side street holding hands. Buffy felt for her stake now, it was hidden conveniently up her sleeve. She let it drop down, and the wood felt rough in her hand. It was like a prickly security blanket. She grasped it firmly, and it reassured her. The couple disappeared around a corner and she picked up her pace. Like clockwork a scream echoed into the night, and Buffy broke into a run. She rounded the corner and she was faced with two snarling, yellow-eyed vampires. They made beast-like growls, and Buffy was momentarily confused by this turn of events. Evidently the girl had been a vampire the entire time as well.

“Well I gotta admit, this is unexpected,” Buffy said.

“I told you it would be easy,” the girl said, more to her companion.

Buffy was confused by this, too. “What, luring a pretty blonde into a darkened alley?” she said, deciding to play along.

“No, luring the slayer into a darkened alley,” she said.

This was getting weird. “Okay let’s cut the small talk and get to it then, shall we?” Buffy said, advancing forward. The girl stayed still, but Mark was ready to fight.

“No dear, I want to have some fun with you first,” the girl said.

“Who the hell are you?” Buffy said.

“You don’t get to find out just yet, but you can call me Maya,” she said.

Then, Mark ran forward and took a swing at Buffy. She was ready. She ducked, missing it, and came back up to grab him by the neck. She pulled him forward, right in line with her waiting stake. It drove deep into his chest, and Buffy heard a satisfying groan. Easy. She ripped the stake out and jumped back to avoid the explosion of dust that would follow.

“Buffy Summers…” Maya said, trailing off. “You have good form. He was easy though, I only turned him a few nights ago.”

“What is this about?” Buffy asked.

“I wanted a chance to fight you,” Maya explained. “To see what came after…”

“I’m not such a fan of fill-in-the-blanks,” Buffy said.

With that, Maya lunged at Buffy and they fought, circling each other in the alley, kicking and punching. Buffy would land a hit and Maya would match it. This girl was much stronger than Mark had been, and she felt stronger than most of the other vampires Buffy had encountered. Who was she? What was she after? She was trying to piece together the clues when Maya grabbed her and threw her up against the brick wall in the alley.

“That’s it?” Maya asked, “That’s all you got for me? The famous slayer of Sunnydale can’t even hold down a fight for five minutes?” Maya was holding her by the neck now, the pressure from her fingers got steadily worse. Buffy tensed her neck muscles so that she could breathe.

Buffy used her arms to try to pull Maya’s hands off her neck, and was able to bring her leg up, kneeing the vampire in the stomach. Maya released her grip and backed off.

“You came all the way here,” Buffy said, almost choking on her words, “just to fight me?”

“I tracked you here, yeah,” Maya said, “found that useless guy Mark. I got him to give me a ride into town, and he told me all about you.”

“I’m going to reiterate,” Buffy said, “why?”

“Because I wanted to find out who came after me,” she said simply.

Dumbfounded by this revelation—and a little ticked she didn’t see it coming, Buffy stood in shock.

“But since I don’t want this to end here—”

Maya jumped forward and took Buffy by the head, slamming it against the wall, and knocking her unconscious. Buffy collapsed on the asphalt underneath their feet.

“—I’ll just have to say good night for now.”

 

 

Buffy awoke in the dimly lit school library. She struggled to sit up. A bag of ice sat next to her, and she perceived Giles, Willow, and Xander standing near the reference desk. She heard muffled voices, and there was a dull ache at the back of her head.

“Guys?” she said, her voice barely audible.

“Buffy,” Giles said, walking toward her. Willow and Xander followed him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got into a bar fight and lost,” she said.

“What happened?” Xander said.

“Yeah. You were taking a while so we decided to come look for you,” Willow said. “Then we found you out cold lying in the alley.”

“I followed that couple out,” Buffy started, trying to reassemble the events. “I followed them out, and they were both vampires. I didn’t see it coming. He was easy enough to fight, but then the girl…”

“What about her?” Xander asked.

“She was so strong, and fast, like me,” Buffy said, “I didn’t even realize it until she told me, but she said she wanted a chance to fight me.”

“Told you what?” Giles asked.

“That she was the slayer before me,” Buffy said, finally letting it out.

Willow and Xander issued a collective, “Woah.”

“You mean to say that you fought,” Giles began, “Your Retrograde?”


End file.
